From: owner-zorn-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (Zorn List Digest) To: zorn-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: Zorn List Digest V2 #968 Reply-To: zorn-list Sender: owner-zorn-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-zorn-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk Zorn List Digest Monday, June 19 2000 Volume 02 : Number 968 In this issue: - books (NO ZORN CONTENT!!!) Eyvind Kang's "The Story Of Iceland" thurston@tonic and zornchambermusic@angelorensanz Re: syr4 (notes) more sy4 SY in NYC review (was Re: syr4) SYR -> SFS Sun Ra's "Space is the Place" DOWNTOWN 81 by Edo Bertoglio? Re: Sun Ra's "Space is the Place" Marclay/Arto & Chris Speed Yeah No @ Tonic 6/16 About japanese band FW: DOWNTOWN 81 by Edo Bertoglio? Re: SY in NYC review (was Re: syr4) Re: Fred Frith: Technology Of Tears Re: Sun Ra's "Space is the Place" Re: SY in NYC review (was Re: syr4) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 13:47:20 +0200 From: patRice Subject: books (NO ZORN CONTENT!!!) hi y'all... recently i've asked several times on this list about books. i wonder if i'm maybe over-doing this? what do you think, mighty rizzi? is it okay as long as people don't start complaining - or are some of you interested in maybe starting a separate e-groups list? i was wondering today: do any of you know of good/reommendable books on japanese mythology? any help is appreciated! yours, patRice - - ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 23:12:27 +1000 From: "Julian" Subject: Eyvind Kang's "The Story Of Iceland" Got this album today, it's really quite hard to describe. Somewhere in between 7 NADEs and Theatre Of Mineral NADEs. The pieces are much longer and a bit more experimental than on the latter, but there aren't any noisefests like on the former. The first 5 tracks (which make up "The Story Of Iceland") focus on one nice little 'theme' (rest assured it isn't the NADE theme!) developing it in a few different ways, and inserting little bits of contrasting material here and there. The sixth track is kind of poppy, but with lots of layered singing and playing. Basically the layers build up till the end where it has become completely distorted. And the last track is a short gamelan solo. Anyway, my admittedly quite early impression is that it's generally good, but some of the longer repetitive ones tend to get boring (particularly the one described as 'kind of poppy' above). Incidentally some of the more well known musicians on there: Bar McKinnon, Tim Young, Keith Lowe, Tucker Martine, Bill Frisell... Trey Spruance is also cited as one of the recording engineers. - - ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 14:17:17 +0100 From: dan hill Subject: thurston@tonic and zornchambermusic@angelorensanz hi all please forgive me if i missed it, but i'm surprised that there's been no mention of two gigs i caught a couple of weeks ago: a) thurston moore improv set at tonic (i think with nels cline(?) and zeena parkins), followed by kim gordon/ikue mori/dj olive and perhaps more pertinantly, b) john zorn's chamber music at the angel orensanz foundation, norfolk st., nyc (part of the bell atlantic jazz festival), with stephen drury, william winant, jennifer choi, and the "de sade" quartet! i just took a short break in new york and managed to catch both, and was suitably impressed, particularly the latter which was utterly enchanting, imho. was i the only zorn-lister there? i find that hard to believe ... if so, you new yorkers are taking your access to live music for granted! all the best, dan. - -- - ---+ dan hill [state51] ---+ new reviews on motion [19.6.2000]: < hia/biosphere | graham haynes | suburban lick | zed bias | david howard | burnt friedmann/atom heart | david howard > http://motion.state51.co.uk/ +--- - - ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 14:05:26 +0000 (GMT) From: Whit Schonbein Subject: Re: syr4 (notes) http://www.smellslikerecords.com/syr/syr4/syr4frameset.html there are notes by winant at the above link (follow the 'notes' link). whit - - ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 11:50:17 -0500 From: kurt_gottschalk@scni.com Subject: more sy4 maybe i was a little unclear by being a little dismissive about the youth project. i don't mean that i wonder if they've ruined the pieces or if the john cage estate is likely to sue or anything. but these are different sorts of players (i'm guessing) than would normally tackle these pieces. that said, are they radically different than the "usual" approach? i love a lot of 20th C through-composed stuff. i also love electric guitars. probably moreso the latter. somebody could, for eg, take a schoenberg quartet (let's say #2 since it's so beautiful) and arrange it for 4 electric guitars. it would almost necessarily sound more alive (at least to these ears) because of the nature of the instrument. that's sorta what i'm wondering about the sy perfs. there's still a level of rock band i hear in it. my questions really are too numerous to generalize, i guess (did wolff instruct a telling of the 3 lil bears, or was kim just in the mood?). i much appreciated herb's comments (and congrats, herb), and would be interested to hear more (and more opinionated) reactions. also if anyone knows of web sources which talk about the pieces (with or without the sy filter, whatever that means), i'd be appreciative. didn't mean to dis the youth. i love them. i'm just trying to learn more about the music they've introduced me to here. Patrice said: Although you have to be careful with the microphones. If they don't show any enthousiasm to swing, it can completely ruin the performance. In other words, it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing? kg np: roland kirk - we free kings - - ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 14:09:55 -0400 From: Dan Hewins Subject: SY in NYC review (was Re: syr4) Well, I have to say that the SY show didn't impress me that much. Perhaps my expectations were too high because the show was by no means bad. I'll note tah I really like all of SY's recent output (Thousand Leaves, NYC Ghosts & Flowers, and the SYR EPs) and haven't really been much of a fan of the older stuff except Daydream Nation. The Br=F6tzmann 10tet + 2 was pretty good. I think the venue was too large and open for them to sound good though. They were mic'd and mixed like a rock band and that didn't sound so hot to me. The composition wasn't that interesting to me either. It seemed like full-on blasts from the whole group interspersed with sols and duos and trios improvising. I liked "Other Brothers" from the 3CD set and this was nothing like that. Perhaps the Tonic show will be better... I can't see all 12 of those folks on the Tonic stage though! SY was good but, like I said, maybe I expected more because I left feeling dissatisfied. They played a bunch of songs from NYC Ghosts and some from 1000 Leaves. The second song they played was from Daydream Nation which was nice. Jim played bass and guitar (alternating with Kim). He also manned a "gadget board" which generated some noises and sounds. I think his addition was beneficial. I had never seen them before and I was glad to see them. Dan Hewins - - ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 11:53:43 -0700 From: "s~Z" Subject: SYR -> SFS http://www.calendarlive.com/music/20000618/t000057955.html - - ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 12:17:27 -0700 From: Greg Mills Subject: Sun Ra's "Space is the Place" A friend of mine recently saw a Sun Ra film from the early 70s called "Space is the Place". Rather than a concert film, it has a plot, something about Sun Ra and the Arkestra riding around in a rocket ship thwarting the nefarious plans of the FBI. In trying to explain the look of the film, he said it was if Earth Wind and Fire were featured on an episode of "Shazam". Has anyone else seen this? - - ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 12:27:46 -0700 From: "Patrice L. Roussel" Subject: DOWNTOWN 81 by Edo Bertoglio? A friend mentioned to me the upcoming release of the movie DOWNTOWN 81 by director Edo Bertoglio. The movie (if I read correctly) is about the no-wave scene and features Jean-Michel Basquiat, Debby Harry, and many others (or is it mainly about Basquiat?). Although the above is mouth watering, there is more since coupled with the release of the movie, there will be a CD with unreleased tracks by... DNA, Tuxedomoon, James White, Kid Creole!!! Could it be, finally, the release of the mythic: - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** - GRUTZY ELVIS: various artists This record features DNA (one track), etc. 1979 - Ze Records, ??? (??) Note: this record was never released. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Needless to say, if anybody has more info on this exciting movie, Patrice. - - ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 14:35:56 -0400 From: Joseph Zitt Subject: Re: Sun Ra's "Space is the Place" It's currently available on video. I keep meaning to pick it up. On Mon, Jun 19, 2000 at 12:17:27PM -0700, Greg Mills wrote: > A friend of mine recently saw a Sun Ra film from the early 70s called "Space > is the Place". Rather than a concert film, it has a plot, something about > Sun Ra and the Arkestra riding around in a rocket ship thwarting the > nefarious plans of the FBI. > > In trying to explain the look of the film, he said it was if Earth Wind and > Fire were featured on an episode of "Shazam". > > Has anyone else seen this? > > - - -- |> ~The only thing that is not art is inattention~ --- Marcel Duchamp <| | jzitt@metatronpress.com http://www.metatronpress.com/jzitt | | Latest CD: Jerusaklyn http://www.mp3.com/josephzitt | | Comma: Voices of New Music Silence: the John Cage Discussion List | - - ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 16:24:49 -0400 From: Dan Hewins Subject: Marclay/Arto & Chris Speed Yeah No @ Tonic 6/16 I caught the sets at Tonic last Friday and I have mixed reviews. I had to go see Christian Marclay and Arto Lindsay because I haven't ever seen Marclay work his tables before. I do wish he had another collaborator though. Marclay was great. For those of you who haven't seen him before, I'll describe the setup he was using on Friday. He had two turntables that looked very old and very used. He had them both going into a digital delay pedal. He had one of them going to a volume/wah pedal that also went into another (boomerang) phrase sampler. This allowed him to sample pieces and repeat them to his liking. This seemed like a versatile setup and he was able to get quite a wide range of sounds out if it. He also employed "extended techniques" such as wiping the records under the needle across the grooves, banging on the tone arm with records, tapping on a spinning record with his fingers, and "man-handling" the records and turntables in other ways. Very enjoyable to watch. Arto, on the other hand, seemed to employ only one technique on his guitar and that was turn on the distortion and make noise. As a preface I'll say that I don't want to sound disrespectful but I do want to describe what I saw as accurately as I can. He didn't ever play any "notes" or even very many rhythms. He tuned down the lowest string down to a slobber and left it that way for much of the set. Does he know how to play the guitar? (I know he does, at least a little, by hearing his more song-oriented records but If I hadn't ever heard those I would seriously wonder about his skill level.) He doesn't seem to have much of imagination, improvisationally. It came again and again as the same noise and growling distortion for each "piece" of improv they performed, while Marclay continued to change and make different sounds over the course of the night. To his credit he also sang spanish sounding words into the mic every once and a while. I'll leave it by saying that I lost some respect for Arto that night. I really enjoy his song-oriented records like Mundo Civiizado and some others I have heard but his free-improv leaves a lot to be desired. Skuli Sverrisson joined in for the last two improvs and he was great. He played his instrument. Chris Speed's Yeah No was fantastic. This group is great! I always like watching Jim Black. I love it when my friends who aren't all into this music are impressed by Jim's playing. It's hard not to be. I have written so much already so I'll just say that this group gets better and better. Dan Hewins - - ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2000 14:32:06 GMT From: "fink stephane" Subject: About japanese band hello, thanks to do something about experimental band, I love this music a punch in my face each time I ear one. But I'm interess about a Japanese band call "ruins" can you help me to take contact with them, please. And if you know some other experimental band from this crazy country, please give me. Sorry for my bad english but I'm french,Hey !,Hey !,Hey !!!!!! ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com - - ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 17:07:46 -0400 From: Jennifer Dahmus Subject: FW: DOWNTOWN 81 by Edo Bertoglio? Patrice L. Roussel wrote: > A friend mentioned to me the upcoming release of the > movie DOWNTOWN 81 by director Edo Bertoglio. The movie (if I read correctly) is > about the no-wave scene and features Jean-Michel Basquiat, Debby Harry, > and many others (or is it mainly about Basquiat?). Check out: http://www.downtown81.com I've waited anxiously for the release of Downtown 81, which is Basquiat's only acting role on film (excluding Blondie's "Rapture" video). Finally we'll hear Basquiat's band, Gray. I've tried to track down a recording for years. Was anyone on this list lucky enough to see Gray live? Jeni - - ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 17:57:51 -0400 From: Brian Olewnick Subject: Re: SY in NYC review (was Re: syr4) Dan Hewins wrote: >=20 > Well, I have to say that the SY show didn't impress me that much. Coming from a non SY-fan, I thought they were OK, with a few pretty good rock songs and a final number, the title track from the new record, that came close to being Branca-esque. My main problem was the whole traditional rock band showcase thing, where the group trots out old hits and select cuts from the latest release. It just seems so tired. I had little sense that any of the band members (with the possible exception of O'Rourke) still possessed the capability of being surprised by what each other was playing; it was more going through the motions, within a tightly constricted format, for all the feedback and guitar noise. One amusing moment: during most of the show, as is normal I guess, audience members were shouting forth song suggestions (demands?). Moore at one point took the mike and with a fist-pumping and mocking imitation shouted, "Don Byron's Music for Twelve Musicians!!" Would've loved to see an audience reaction shot. > The Br=F6tzmann 10tet + 2 was pretty good. =20 I liked them well enough, though they seemed a bit ragged and possibly under-rehearsed (Roy Campbell, doing lackluster sub duty for Kondo, definitely missed his mark a couple of times). I kinda figured they'd try to woo the crowd with a trademark Vandermark riff-based piece, but instead they did one longer number (probably a Brotz composition, I'd guess) that alternated Machine Gun-like walls of sound with various duos/trios/quartets, etc. The few hundred Sonic Youth fans towards the front of the crowd seemed to enjoy it reasonably well, though the number of cell phone conversations going on was disconcerting ("Like, I don't know, like there's this weird shit going on?"). They closed with a good head of steam, including ferocious back to back solos on tenors from KV and Brotz. Gustaffson joined Sonic Youth for the band's second encore, an engaging skronk-fest. Looking forward very much to hearing them at Tonic where, with a little more gelling and a more comfortable and smaller space (and seats! these ancient legs did yeoman's duty standing for four hours!), things should work out better. Brian Olewnick - - ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 20:35:54 -0400 From: "Caleb T. Deupree" Subject: Re: Fred Frith: Technology Of Tears At 09:28 PM 6/18/00 +0000, ainagy@elender.hu wrote: >a question: any of you know Frith's "Technology Of Tears"? Opinions? What kind of music is it? It's interesting to listen to this again in light of what Frith has done since. This is a suite of pieces for dance, mostly very rhythmic, a lot of pulse-based and repetitive figures, and still fairly close to the RIO aesthetic of Henry Cow, but also looking ahead to his more recent interest in larger forms. Frith overdubs most of the instruments himself (although Zorn, Marclay, and Tenko are on half the album, and Jim Staley plays on a couple of pieces too), which reinforces some of the rockish rhythmic figures and doesn't leave as much room for virtuosity or improv as on some of his other works. - -- Caleb Deupree cdeupree@erinet.com Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody's watching. - -- Satchel Paige - - ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 01:11:58 GMT From: "Bill Ashline" Subject: Re: Sun Ra's "Space is the Place" >From: Greg Mills > >A friend of mine recently saw a Sun Ra film from the early 70s called >"Space >is the Place". Rather than a concert film, it has a plot, something about >Sun Ra and the Arkestra riding around in a rocket ship thwarting the >nefarious plans of the FBI. > >In trying to explain the look of the film, he said it was if Earth Wind and >Fire were featured on an episode of "Shazam". > >Has anyone else seen this? It's pure kitsch and blaxploitation parody--early seventies afros and psychedelic clothes and Sun Ra having a Tarot card game with a pimp. Ra's best line is when he is the operator of the Outer Space Employment Agency and is queried by a vagrant for a job. When Ra asks what the man can do, he responds "nothing." So Ra offers to hire him to do "nothing." Then the vagrant asks what he will be paid. And Ra responds "nothing." >- > ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com - - ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 22:42:27 EDT From: JonAbbey2@aol.com Subject: Re: SY in NYC review (was Re: syr4) a couple of my own opinions on the Br=F6tzmann/SY show: for me, both the 10tet/12tet and Die Like A Dog are much better with=20 Toshinori Kondo (absent for this show, and for the whole US tour, I believe)= =20 than with Roy Campbell. when you also factored in the poor acoustics and the= =20 somewhat ragged play of the band (it was the first show of the tour, I'm=20 pretty sure), I didn't get too much out of this. they should be better at=20 Tonic, but Kondo still won't be there. it was nice to see all of the Sonic=20 Youth fans exposed to this music, though. <> what's really funny about this, which I didn't realize until I told someone=20 the story, is that Byron's record is actually called Music For SIx Musicians= . what was impressive to me about the SY set was the energy these guys put out= ,=20 especially Thurston. O'Rourke blended in well, mostly staying in the=20 background. my high points of the set were: the raveup at the end of NYC Ghosts and Flowers. the first encore, which was a Steve Shelley-less piece, with O'Rourke on=20 synth, Ranaldo on Korg, and Gustaffson jamming along. this piece was closer=20 to the O'Rourke/Gustaffson/Ikue Mori set at Tonic a few weeks ago than it wa= s=20 to Sonic Youth. the guitar break in the last encore, 100%, where all four guitarists used a=20 drumstick on their strings at once. <> my legs were as stiff as anyone's, but the two shows and the break in betwee= n=20 only lasted about three hours.=20 Jon www.erstwhilerecords.com - - ------------------------------ End of Zorn List Digest V2 #968 ******************************* To unsubscribe from zorn-list-digest, send an email to "majordomo@lists.xmission.com" with "unsubscribe zorn-list-digest" in the body of the message. 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